The B0 (B Zero) electric car created by Italy's Pininfarina and France's Bolloré looks quite promising, in good part because it isn't just a concept car and the partners say that the first units will be delivered in about a year. Leases (€330/month) will be available in six European countries (see below for more details), and you can put your name on the list right now.Some of the technical highlights:
Its LMP battery, which will be rechargeable in a matter of hours from a standard domestic main socket, will provide it with a range of 250 km (153 miles). The B° will have a top speed that is electronically limited to 130 km/h (80 mph) and will feature potent acceleration, reaching 60 km/h from a standing start (0 to 37 mph) in 6.3 seconds. The B° will also feature solar panels on its roof and hood, so as to help recharge its electrical power reserves.
It will also apparently be able to run about 30km (20 miles) on a charge of "a few minutes."
We're not quite sure if the solar panels are a good idea. They will make the car more expensive to make and won't necessarily always be in the sun. Maybe a less expensive car would've meant more people could afford it and other efforts, on a larger scale, could be meant to clean up the grid from which the car will be charged (or people can always buy solar panels for their homes). It's certainly not a bad thing, but solar panels can usually be more effective in fixed optimal positions, and battery electric car are still pretty expensive, so anything that adds to their cost should be considered carefully.
On the other hand, I'm sure that someday putting solar panels on cars will make sense. Breakthroughs will mean more efficient, less expensive, more flexible, etc, solar panels. But right now, those panels would probably make a bigger difference in on a rooftop or in a solar farm.
The lithium-polymer battery, which they call the LMP, has an expected lifetime of about 200,000km (125,000 miles) and requires no maintenance. B0 has a battery pack and supercapacitors to help it better capture energy when using regenerative braking.
According to Pininfarina:
In an electric car, supercapacitors draw and store energy generated while the car is braking and feed it back into the system when the car moves off again. The result is greater acceleration, increased range and a longer lifespan for the car’s battery.
Indeed, capacitors don't deteriorate when they are charged/discharged, so using them for some of the regenerative braking/acceleration cycles can help increase the life of the chemical battery pack.
The LMP pack will be manufactured in Quimper, France and Montreal, Canada.
So far, there are plans for France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland. The U.S. might be added to the list someday, though probably not for a couple years. Production numbers are: 10,000 cars in 2010, 20,000 in 2011 and 30,000 units in 2012.
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